Tracking the Tempest (10 page)

“We're going back to Boston,” I concluded, using my “final answer” voice.

“Jane…”

“No, Ryu. We're leaving. And we're not coming back here till Conleth is found. I will
not
risk everyone by staying here.”

Ryu was silent, frowning at me as he thought through the logistics.

“You're probably right, Jane. You are safest with me,” Ryu said after giving it some thought. “And I have to admit, I like the idea of you coming home with me again. Although I hate that it's because of this attack. I never wanted you wrapped up with Conleth.”

I shrugged. “I know you didn't. But how the fuck did he find me?”

“When you left, we tore the city apart looking for Con, and we even found him a few times. Although he persisted on escaping. Then, a couple of days ago, Julian, he's our resident techie as well as our portable charger, went to put some new software on my computer. He discovered it had been hacked soon after that night in the Commons. I don't use it much, and never for work, so we didn't panic. Hell, we thought we could use it to our advantage. Use it to trap him, or something.” Ryu scrubbed a hand over his face before guiltily meeting my eyes. “But that's how he must have found your information and figured out who you were. E-mails and pictures and stuff.”

“Shit. He read our e-mails?”

Ryu nodded and I frowned, really uncomfortable. If Con had read my e-mails to Ryu, he would know pretty much everything about me. Ryu and I wrote each other a lot, and I told him everything about my life as it was at that moment. All of my friends were sort of divided: The humans knew nothing about the supes, and the supes didn't really care too much about my human life. Iris did, to be fair, but she was so scatterbrained. Only Ryu bridged that gap between my new supernatural existence and my more mundane, human life. I could tell Ryu about my father's health and about my training with Nell, and he seemed equally interested in both. Now I felt really vulnerable knowing Conleth knew so much about me.

“So,” Ryu said, “we figure he came out here thinking he'd get to me through you, not expecting to find you so well protected. But he got a nasty surprise instead. Too bad we never e-mailed each other about how Nell is secretly the Terminator in a tiny gnome shell.”

My frown deepened as I remembered Conleth reaching his hand out toward me. The more I thought of what had happened last night, the more questions I had. After all, if Con had just attacked from the other side of the field, closer to the house, he would have hit me first and I'd have been a goner.

I knew Ryu was right; Con would never have guessed how fierce was our resident gnome, and he'd thought I'd be easy pickings. But there was something about the way things had played out, and about the look in his eyes when he'd reached out to me, that caused my skin to prickle with unease.

I pushed away the feeling, standing up as I did so. I was just skeeved out, tired, and stressed. I needed a swim and some rest, and then everything would seem less portentous, less dire.

“Take me to the ocean, Ryu. Then take me home,” I commanded. “Your home,” I amended hastily when he cocked an eyebrow at me. His would have to do, for now, as I'd made my own unsafe.

A thought that made me sad, I realized, as Ryu slipped his arm around my waist and led me off to his car and away from the field of battle.

Very, very sad, indeed.

CHAPTER TEN

R
yu's tongue swiped over the pinpricks in my wrist as my orgasm subsided, sending one last, gentle spasm through my system. He pulled me down to his chest from where I straddled his hips, cuddling me close and tucking my head under his chin.

“Gods, it's nice to have you here, Jane,” he murmured, stroking idle fingers down my spine.

“Always happy to oblige, my sweet,” I drawled, kissing him with a loud smack on the neck. The part of me that continually gnawed at things it had no business gnawing at wondered whether he was referring to my company or my blood. For a second, I wondered whether, for Ryu, there was much of a difference. Not letting myself dwell, however, I nudged him aside so I could get up to take a shower.

It was late, around nine. After leaving Nell's cabin, I'd gone for a quick swim to recharge and then we'd driven straight back to Boston. It should have been about a seven-and-a-half-hour drive, but Ryu the Rocket did it in six. I was still seeing flashbacks of my life spinning before me.

After we'd cleaned up and had a quick dinner of bacon sandwiches and bananas, Ryu's deputies arrived to talk strategy.

We were in the office, with Camille, Julian, Daoud, Caleb, and Ryu crowded around the table with a map spread out before them. I was curled up in Ryu's desk chair, listening closely to everything that was said while trying to stay out of the way. Julian, whose position as tech guru made him the one everyone seemed to communicate with, was relaying everything he'd culled from their various sources.

“We have reports of a firefight between Conleth and Anyan four hours ago, near Lebanon, Vermont. Barghest nearly got him, but Con escaped. And we have what sounds like a positive ID for Conleth, just about an hour ago, in Concord, New Hampshire.” I breathed a sigh of relief at Caleb's words. Con was moving away from Maine and toward Massachusetts. I wasn't entirely thrilled with the latter bit of information, but I was very happy about the former.

“He's coming home,” Ryu said. “We need to be ready. Have you made any headway in finding his base, Daoud?”

“No, I've got nothing. We thought he might have been holed up in a squat in JP, but that was a dead end.” From the corner of my eye, I saw Daoud pull out gum and offer it around the table. I could have sworn he pulled it from his pants, but I must have been seeing things. That said, everyone did decline the gum.

Ryu sighed, scrubbing his hands through his hair. “Well, the good thing is that he's not subtle, so we'll know when he hits town. The bad news is, he'll probably announce himself with death. In the meantime, we need to go back to the beginning. There has to be something we're missing, and in the meantime all we've got is that damned lab.”

Everyone straightened, so I stood up as well. I hated to admit it, but I was morbidly curious to see the place in which Conleth had been imprisoned. Everyone started to file out of the office, and Caleb ushered me in front of him with a gentlemanly nod.

I had just walked into the living room when I heard Ryu say, “Caleb, Julian, you're with me. Camille, Daoud, you stay here with Jane.”

I stopped dead in my tracks, causing Caleb to bump into me. Well, causing a specific part of Caleb to bump into me.
Loincloth!
I thought, even as my mouth said, “Um, Ryu?” I turned around to see the vampire staring at me, his mouth set in a determined little moue.

“Honey,” he said, affecting patience. “I know you don't want to hear it, but you should stay here.”

I stepped aside to walk back toward my lover. Who, by the way, was so not getting any later.

“Why should I stay here? That's dividing up your forces, which is silly. Plus, maybe I can help.”

Ryu's smile turned patronizing, at which my blood started to simmer.

“Honey, be realistic. How can you help?”

Okay, if I were honest, that wasn't an entirely illegitimate question. But it wasn't
what
Ryu asked; it was the
way
he asked. Like me helping him was the craziest, most preposterous thing he'd ever heard.

The simmer became a boil as I struggled to keep my voice under control.

“Well, first of all, I'm a halfling. Maybe I can understand Conleth a little better than you can.”

Ryu's patronizing smile shifted into full-on condescension and he actually snorted.

Oh, hell no
, I thought as my anger-pot boiled right
the fuck over.

“Second,
honey
,” I said, through gritted teeth, “it appears to me like you need
something
to help you, since you don't have jack on Conleth after all this time. Maybe a fresh set of eyes is exactly what you need. And maybe you shouldn't underestimate me.”

Ryu's eyes snapped with irritation, but I already had that emotion monopolized, thanks.

“Jane, c'mon. You need to be kept safe. Just stay here, make yourself at home…”

Oh no, he didn't
.

“Unfortunately, Ryu,” I snapped, “this is not my
home
. I had to leave my home because I was made a target because I visited you. And now I've had to leave my home, and my responsibilities, and my friends and family, so that they don't get killed by the insane firestarter who wants to use me to get to you. So can we quit acting like I'm not involved? Because I am
really
fucking involved.”

“Jane, don't be selfish. I have to focus. I can't be worrying about you getting hurt…”

“Selfish?” I interjected. “Seriously? How is my wanting to help catch the person who nearly fried me, twice, selfish? And I can take care of myself, Ryu. I'm not a weakling.”

“Honey, I know you're not a weakling,” he soothed, as if I were a preschooler throwing a tantrum. “But Con is very strong, and you're just not there yet. So stay here, like a good girl.”

My jaw plummeted, and I saw, from the corner of my eye, Julian and Caleb shake their heads as Camille winced. Daoud dropped his face in his hands.

“Like a good girl?” I wheezed. “Like a
good girl
?” Ryu stared at me, clearly at a loss for why I was suddenly so pissed.

“All right, that's it. Hit me.”

Ryu blinked.

“I'm serious, Fangs. Hit me.”

“Jane, come
on
. I'm not going to
hit
you, fercrissakes.”

“Not with your fist, numpty. With your power. Hit me. I can take it.
Hit me
.”

Ryu rolled his eyes. “I'm not hitting you.”

“Hit me!” I roared.

Ryu shrugged, lifting his hand and petulantly throwing a little mage ball at me. It was the magical equivalent of a shuttlecock.

I narrowed my eyes at him. Despite everything I'd gone through in my twenty-six years, I knew I looked young, small, and vulnerable. I'd dealt with people judging me because of that fact all of my life, and it would have been one thing for Caleb or Daoud or Camille not to take me seriously. I wasn't fucking them. But this was
Ryu
: the man who kept giving me anxiety attacks by hinting he wanted me to be a bigger part of his life. For
him
to treat me like a child was
infuriating
.

So I did what I'd been told a thousand times not to do and reached into my power with all that fury. I built up a shield wall so strong even I was a bit surprised, as I let my emotions take over what happened next. I'd never consciously built a mage ball, but I poured my strength and ire into four big-ass mage lights that I sent arcing out, knocking over a lamp and forcing Julian to dive out of the way, where I let them hover for a moment. I met Ryu's eyes with mine, hoping he couldn't see that I was as shocked at the power of my performance as he was.

“If you ever treat me like less than an equal again, Ryu Baobhan Sith, you can find yourself another bedmate. I
will
help you in this investigation. I may not be much, offensively, but I can certainly protect myself.”

And with that I let the power-filled mage lights fly toward me. One clipped Ryu's ear and he yelped, before reaching up a hand to heal himself. As they hit my shields, they fizzled out harmlessly. Then I dropped my defenses, glaring at Ryu and daring him to argue.

“Fine, Jane,” he said, obviously ticked off. “I don't have time for games. But at least have the good sense to stay close to one of us at all times.”

Then he stalked toward the door. I allowed a small smile of triumph to cross my face before a wave of weakness swept through me and I felt my knees nearly buckle. In a flash, Julian was at my side, supporting me by my elbow but using his own body to keep that fact from anyone else.

He grinned at me, as I felt a flood of elemental water energy surge into me.

“Way to stick it to the man,” he said, clearly thrilled at what he'd just seen. “That
rocked
.”

I tried to be pleased, but I was still mostly angry that I'd had to create such a scene in the first place. I nodded toward Julian's hand on my elbow. “Yeah, well, thanks for the top-up.”

“No problem. Seeing everyone's face when you did that was
awesome
. I'm so tired of everyone assuming halflings are weak.”

“Well, I think I overdid it a bit,” I admitted.

“Nah.” He shook his head. “It was spot on. You've got to prove yourself in our society. And power is the only thing that's respected. Just try not to let your emotions trick you into using too much juice.”

I nodded glumly. Damned feelings… At times I envied the Alfar their preternatural calm. Not least when my boyfriend was being a complete dickhead.

“Are you ladies ready?” Ryu griped from the front door, shooting Julian a vicious glare. My fellow halfling dropped my elbow, turning toward where the others waited.

“Yes, sir,” Julian replied, agreeably, as I resisted the temptation to give Ryu the finger.

Once outside and walking to our cars, I wondered if I'd finally gotten a taste of the “real” Ryu.

Which left me a little worried at how much I preferred the fantasy.

Caleb parked the SUV on a quiet side street lined by slightly shabby apartment buildings. Bits of family detritus—half-inflated soccer balls, rickety-looking picnic tables, brightly colored plastic toys, and the like—were washed up on the front lawns like litter on a beach. It seemed a strange place to have a secret laboratory devoted to studying the supernatural, and I said so.

“Good camouflage, cheap rent,” Ryu suggested, shrugging. It was the first time he'd spoken to me since we'd left the house, and he still wasn't meeting my eyes. “Who knows why they picked this location.”

Waiting for us on the corner, underneath a streetlight, stood Camille and Julian. Together, we all walked toward Conleth's former prison. The building was large and might once have looked impressive. It was hard to tell with all the damage. One side of the glass doors had been shattered, but the other side was intact. That door was emblazoned with a sign:
FOCUS ON FAMILY: SPECIALISTS IN IN-VITRO, GIFT, AND ZIFT.
I stared at the sign, narrowing my eyes as my brain started to fire off possible connections.

“The laboratory was a fertility clinic?”

“Well, it operated under the auspices of a fertility clinic,” Ryu said. “And it seems to have been a real fertility clinic at one time.”

I gave him a pointed look, which he finally returned. He shrugged, again, knowing I was suggesting a link between this clinic's stated purpose, Conleth's identity as a halfling, and the fertility problems facing the supernatural community.

Basically, as it had been explained to me, the supes had trouble making babies with each other. They could do it, but it took tremendous amounts of concentration and resources. I had my own theories about why this trouble existed, although I hadn't shared them with anyone. But I knew contact with magic kept us healthy and relatively immortal. Since I'd started my training, I hadn't had a cold or a hangover or even a pimple. Which was great, but I couldn't help but think that the purgative qualities of our magic—cleansing us of all irregularities—had something to do with the supernatural fertility problems.

Wrapped up in my thoughts, I followed the others as they made their way into the building. When it was my turn, Ryu stopped me. He gently wrapped his hands around my waist and carefully lifted me over the jagged glass still lining the bottom of the door. When he put me down, he kissed me on the forehead, his way of attempting to mitigate the tension between us. After a moment, I leaned into his lips, accepting the gesture.

The front of the building wasn't too badly damaged considering what had happened there. Besides the broken front door, and water damage from putting out the fire, the entry room to the facility must have missed the brunt of Conleth's attack. The only significant Conleth-related damage were the doors that led to the rest of the lab, which had been blown entirely off their hinges, and what must have been the receptionist's station, which looked like it had been blasted with blowtorches at five paces.

“The secretary survived the initial attack by hiding, but Conleth took quite a bit of time firing away at her station, as if to scare her, before making his escape. And he caught up with her a few days later—killed her and her boyfriend.” Ryu dug around in the file he was carrying, snapping toward Daoud at the same time. The hawk-nosed man walked forward, and this time I definitely wasn't seeing things: Daoud reached into the front of his tight black jeans and pulled out a large flashlight. He handed the flashlight to Ryu, who nodded appreciatively. Daoud then pulled three more large flashlights out of his pants: One he passed to Caleb, one he stuck under his own arm for safekeeping, and one he passed to me. I accepted it without thinking, too shocked to do otherwise, until I remembered where it had come from and scootched my shirt sleeve down to cover my hand. I shook my head, about to ask Ryu why Daoud had a general store in his underwear, when I was cut to the chase by Ryu's showing me two photos: one of a young couple smiling behind a birthday cake and the other of two crispified corpses.
The receptionist and her boyfriend
, my brain reminded me as my body responded with a wave of nausea. I told my stomach, quite firmly, to
settle
. It obeyed with a petulant rumble.